Improvement  of  Wheat 

Thos.B.Lord 


i-     AGRIC.  DEPT. 


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FARMER'S  GU.IDE 


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I 


BY  THOS.  B.  LORD. 


DESIGNED    TO     INSTRUCT     THK    FARMER     IX     SELECTING 

«  • 

HIS   SEED,     INCREASING   ITS     FERTILITY,      PRE- 
VENTING   ITS   DEGENERATING,    OR    RE- 
STORING ITS  FORMER  VIGOR   IF 
IT  "RUNS  OUT." 


KALAMAZOO,  MICH. 

1887. 


nil 


,.|,,,!| 


IMPROVEMENT  OF  WHEAT. 


VT7HE  degeneracy  of  our  soil    and    the  best   strength  and 
fertility  of  our  seed  should  admonish  every  farmer  that 
something,  should    be   done  to  strengthen   OUR  SEED  AND 
IMPROVE  OUR  LAND! 

If  I  shall  succeed  in  arousing  the  energies  of  the  far- 
mer to  act  on  this  subject,  the  importance  of  which  is  desi- 
rable, I  shall  feel  that  I  have  done  something  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  tillers  of  the  soil  and  for  amelioration  of  the  con- 
dition of  our  race,  while  I  am  called  upon  to  pay  the  debt 
of  nature. 

In  Western  New  York,  formerly  one  of  the  best  wheat 
growing  sections  in  the  United  States,  when  the  soil  was 
rich  and  the  seed  strong,  Gen.  Mills,  of  Mt.  Morris,  Living- 
ston Co.,  raised  47  11-60  bushels  of  wheat  per  acre  on  80 
acres  of  land ;  Simon  McKinzie,  of  Caledonia,  same  coun- 
ty, raised  50  bushels  per  acre ;  Capt.  Scott,  of  Covington, 
Wyoming  Co.,  raised  50  bushels  per  acre.  True,  these 
were  extreme  cases,  but  30,  35  and  40  bushels  per  acre 
were  not  uncommon.  Even  at  a  later  day,  about  1850, 
Wm.  Hotchkiss,  of  Lewiston,  Niagara  Co.,  raised  63J  bush- 
els per  acre  on  6f  acres  of  land ;  Samuel  L.  Thompson,  of 
Setauket.  L.  I.,  raised  42  bushels  and  10  quarts  by  measure, 
or  44  bushels  and  24  quarts  by  weight  per  acre;  Justus 
White,  of  Parrnelia,  Jeff.  Co.,  N.  Y.,  raised  40  bushels  and 
2  pecks  per  acre.  These  were  premium  crops,  but  even 
much  better  crops  were  raised  then  than  we  get  now.  The 

272673 


iriomehtbus  question  then  P™$^&tf!£tfto  the  farmer,  why 
is  this  degeneracy,  andjv^afiTthe  remedy? 

_^~  --TtfTJrfdW"  $Tis  is  the  object  of  this  pamphlet.  If  our 
seed  was  of  the  same  strength  it  formerly  was,  and  the  soil 
in  the  same  fertile  condition,  I  know  of  no  reason  why  we 
should  not  raise  as  good  crops  as  our  fathers  did.  But  our 
seed  is  degenerated  and  our  land  impoverished.  But  my 
present  object  is  to  give  the  manner  of  improving  our 
seed,  and  shall  leave  the  improvement  of  the  land  for  a 
future  occasion.  I  propose  then  to  give  the  improvements 
which  others  have  made,  and  the  manner  in  which  it  has 
been  accomplished. 

General  Harmon' 's  Improved  White  Flint. 
"Dr.  Emmons  says  this  variety  is  considered  by  Mr. 
Harmon  as  new,  having  been  produced  by  himself  by  a  se- 
lection of  the  best  seed,  and  liming  and  sowing  on  a  lime- 
stone soil.  It  is  larger  than  the  White  Flint,  and  yet  the 
cuticle  of  the  kernel  is  equally  thin,  delicate  and  white.  It 
weighs,  according  to  the  statement  of  Mr.  Harm  an,  when 
prepared  for  seed,  64  pounds  to  the  bushel.  Two  bushels 
and  eighteen  pounds  of  this  wheat  produced  106J  pounds 
flour  and  32  pounds  of  bran;  loss,  one-half  pound. 

"Some  twenty  years  ago  General  Harmon  sent  a  quan- 
tity of  the  above  named  wheat  to  the  Patent  Office  for  dis- 
tribution. At  that  time  I  received  a  small  sample,  but  as 
I  knew  nothing  of  the  culture  of  winter  wheat  I  sowed  it 
so  late  in  the  season  that  most  of  it  was  destroyed  by  the 
midge.  After  two  trials  I  gave  it  up,  saving  what  little  the 
midge  left,  perhaps  half  .a  gill  or  so,  which  was  put  in  a 
package  properly  labeled,  where  it  remained  in  my  seed- 
box  till  about  seven  years  ago,  when  I  received  six  or  eight 
packages  of  Patent  Office  wheats.  These,  with  the  White 
Flint,  were  carefully  sown  in  drills,  the  Flint  yielding  the 
best  of  the  lot  From  that  small  beginning  I  have  every 
year  since  raised  fair  crops  and  sold  many  bushels  for  seed. 
The  crop  of  1861  weighed  64  pounds  per  bushel,  making 


48  pounds  of  superior  flour.  •  This  year  it  weighs  63  pounds 
per  bushel,  making  47J  pounds  of  flour  per  bushel,  of  as 
good  quality  as  the  best  western  flour,  which  is  worth  ten 
dollars  per  barrel  here  at  the  present  time.  Four  and  one- 
quarter  bushels  will  make  a  barrel  of  extra  flour,  thus  ma- 
king the  wheat  worth  a  trifle  over  $2,33  per  bushel,  for  the 
coarse  flour  and  bran  are  worth  more  than  I  pa}7  per  bar- 
rel for  flouring,  viz:  twenty-five  cents  per  barrel.  From 
the  foregoing  data,  our  northern  farmers  can  judge  wheth- 
er it  is  better  to  raise  wheat  for  family  use,  or  raise  other 
crops  and  purchase  western  flour." 

In  addition  to  this  I  would  say,  that  Gen.  Harmon 
went  into  his  barn  when  there  was  a  brisk  wind,  opened 
the  main  doors  on  both  sides,  threw  his  wheat  against  the 
wind,  and  the  largest  kernels  would  go  fartherest.  These 
were  gathered  up  and  sown.  The  following  year  he  re- 
peated the  process.  In  a  few  years  he  secured  the  improv- 
ed ''Flint  Wheat,"  which  yielded  45  bushels  per  acre,  and 
made  48  pounds  of  superfine  flour  from  ,a  bushel  of  wheat. 
One  bushel  of  this  wheat  he  claimed  would  go  as  far  in 
sowing  as  1J  bushels  of  common  wheat.  A  quantitv  of 
this  was  sent  to  the  Patent  Office  at  Washington,  and  dis- 
tributed through  the  country.  It  was  finally  destroyed  by 
the  midge  and  lost  to  the  farmers. 

SELECTION    OF    SEED. 

The  experiments  of  Maj.  F.  F.  Hallett,  of  Manor  Farm, 
Kemptown,  England,  in  the  selection  and  planting  of  seed 
have  attracted  much  attention  among  agriculturists  in  that 
country.  In  a  paper  read  by  him  before  the  Midland  Far- 
mer's Club,  at  Birmingham,  June  4,  1874,  he  says: 

"The  plan  of  selection  which  I  pursue  is  as  follows: 
A  grain  produces  a  plant  consisting  of  many  ears.  I  plant 
the  grain  from  these  ears  in  such  a  manner  that  each  ear 
occupies  a  row  by  itself,  each  of  its  grain  occupying  a  hole 
in  this  row,  the  holes  being  twelve  inches  apart  every  way. 
At  harvest,  after  the  most  careful  study  and  comparison  of 


the  plants  from  all  these  grains,  I  select  the  finest  one, 
which  1  accept  as  a  proof  that  its  parent  grain  was  the  best 
of  all,  under  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  that  season. 
This  process  is  repeated  annually,  starting  every  year  with 
the  proved  best  grain,  although  the  verification  of  this  su- 
periority is  not  obtained  until  the  following  harvest. 

"In  illustration  of  those  principles  of  selection,  I  now 
give  the  following  results,  due  to  their  influence  alone — as 
the  kind  of  seed,  the  land,  and  the  system  of  culture  em- 
ployed were  precisely  the  same  for  every  plant  for  four 
consecutive  years;  neither  was  any  manure  used,  nor  any 
artificial  means  of  fostering  the  plants  resorted  to. 

Table  showing   the  importance  of  each   additional  generation 

of  selection. 


M 

It? 

h 

as 

Selected  Ears. 

Length 

'S 

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s 

(N 

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o 

cs93 

Inches. 

Grains 

1857 

Original   Ear,            

4&/ 

47 

1858 

Finest  Ear                                                                <- 

t>l/ 

79 

10 

1859 

Finest  Ear,-  --  --  -  -          - 

y3x 

91 

22 

1860 

Ears  Imperfect  from  wet  season,  



39 

1861 

Finest   Ear,-    —      . 

8-%!           123 

52 

"Thus,  by  means  of  repeated  selection  alone,  the  length 
of  the  ears  has  been  doubled,  their  contents  nearly  trebled, 
and  the  "tillering"  power  of  the  seed  increased  five-fold. 

"The  following  table  gives  similar  increased  contents 
of  ear  obtained  in  three  other  varieties  of  wheat: 


Varieties  of  Wheat. 

'*""  cC 

S'O 

I1 

Original  Red    commenced   in  1857,    

45 

123 

6  • 

124 

60 

114 

Golden  Drop,  commenced   in  1864,    _     __    -            

32 

96 

"It  was  supposed  by  the  ancient  writers  that  the  pow- 
ers of  grains  differed  in  relation  to  their  position  in  the  ear. 
This  I  investigated  in  1858  by  planting  the  grains  of  ten 
ears  on  a  plan  showing  their  several  positions  in  the  ear. 
The  only  general  result,  among  most  conflicting  ones,  was 


that  the  smallest  corns — those  most  remote  from  the  center 
of  growth — exhibited  throughout,  most  unexpectedly,  a  vig- 
or equal  to  Jhat  of  the  largest;  and  that  the  remarked  worst 
grains,  in  one  or  two  instances,  did  not  by  any  means  fall 
so  far  short  of  the  good  ones  as  had  been  expected.  I  have 
also  made  frequent  trials  of  the  comparative  power  of  large 
and  small,  plump  and  thin  grains;  and,  in  the  case  of  oats, 
which  produce  a  small  grain  attached  to  a  large  one,  trials 
as  to  their  respective  powers,  with  uniformly  the  same  re- 
sult, viz,  that  in  good  grains  of  the  same  pedigree,  neither 
mere  size  nor  situation  in  the  ear  supplies  any  indication 
of  the  superior  grain." 

"Very  close  observation  during  many  years  has  led  me 
to  the  discovery  that  the  variations  in  the  cereals  which 
nature  presents  to  us  are  not  only  hereditary,  but  that  they 
proceed  upon  a  fixed  principle,  and  from  them  I  have  ed- 
uced the  following  law  of  development  of  cereals:" 

1.  "Every  fully-developed  plant,    whether  of  wheat, 
oats,  or  barley,  presents  an  ear  superior  in  productive  pow- 
er to  any  of  the  rest  on  that  plant." 

2.  "Every  such  plant  contains  one  grain  which,  upon 
trial,  proves  more  productive  than  any  other." 

3.  "The  best  grain  in  a  given  plant  is   found   in    its 
best  ear." 

4.  "The  superior  vigor  of  this  grain  is  transmissible 
in  different  degrees  to  its  progeny." 

5.  "By  repeated  careful  selection  the  superority  is  ac- 
cumulated." 

6.  "The  improvement,  which  is  at  first  rapid,  gradual- 
ly after  a  long  series  of  years,  is    diminished    in    amount, 
and  eventually  so  far  arrested  that,  practically  speaking,  a 
limit  to  improvement  in  the  desired  quality  is  reached." 

7.  "By  still  continuing  to  select,  the  improvement  is 
maintained,  and  practically  a  fixed  type  is  the  result."  *  *  * 

"The  superiority  of  some  individuals  over  others  is  so 


marked  in  various  ways  as  to  lead  irresistibly  to  the  infer- 
ence that  it  must  be  hereditary.  Upon 
this  great  principle,  running  throughout  all  nature,  I  base 
my  system  of  selection.  The  results  of  selection  in  many 
agricultural  plants,  such  as  the  parsnip,  turnip,  cabbage, 
potato,  hop,  &c.,  are  well  known;  and  there  has  recently 
been  published  in  France  a  report  showing  how  my  prin- 
ciple of  selection,  applied  to  the  beet  cultivated  for  sugar, 
has  resulted  in  an  increase  of  5  per  cent,  of  sugar.  In  the 
case  of  the  vine,  too,  I  may  cite  an  instance:  Some  eight 
years  since  I  communicated  to  an  Italian  friend  my  views 
as  to  the  selection  of  the  vines.  These  he  carried  back  with 
him  to  his  relative  in  Piedmont,  and  two  years  ago  he  in- 
formed me  that  the  produce  in  wine  from  his  relative's 
estate  had  been  trebled  by  adopting  the  principle  of  select- 
ion." 

"Major  Hallett  insistsstrongly  on  thin  sowing  of  wheat. 
It  is  to  be  remembered  that  he  is  speaking  of  practice  on 
English  soil,  in  good  heart,  kept  clean,  and  thoroughly 
tilled.  He  urges  that  it  is  necessary  to  the  full  vigor  and 
and  greatest  product  of  the  plants  that  they  be  sown  early, 
giving  each  plant  sufficient  room  to  develop  itself  complete- 
ly, by  tillering  freely,  and  occupying  its  just  measure  of 
ground.  He  recommends  for  large  fields  of  wheat  that 
planting  take  place  from  the  last  of  August  to  September  10, 
using  two  gallons  to  three  gallons  of  seed  per  acre.  When 
circumstances  delay  planting  beyond  this  period,  an  addi- 
tional gallon  of  seed,  per  acre,  should  be  used  for  every 
week  of  delay  up  to  the  end  of  September.  Early  planting- 
gives  advantage  in  saving  of  seed,  in  forwarding  the  fall 
work  of  the  farm,  in  enabling  the  plants  more  effectually  to 
resist  the  lifting  of  winter  frosts,  and  in  an  earlier  harvest. 

In  illustration  of  the  vigor  of  grains  grown  by  him, 
he  states  that  at  the  Exeter  meeting  of  the  British  Associ- 
ation he  exhibited  three  plants  of  wheat,  barley,  and  oats, 
each  from  a  single  grain,  showing  the  following  number  of 


'stems,  respectively:  wheat,  94;  barley,  110;  oats,  87.  As  to 
the  effect  of  the  increased  size  of  the  grains  on  the  aggre- 
gate of  the  crop,  he  adds  that  he  has  found  one  bushel  of 
his  pedigree  wheat,  (original  red,)  produced  from  single 
grains  planted  12  inches  by  12,  to  contain  about  460,000 
grains;  a  buslul  of  ordinary  wheat  containing  700^000 
grains.  The  enlargement  of  the  grains  tend  to  a  propor- 
tional increase  in  measured  yield.  On  three  acres  of  land 
he  has  averaged  72  bushels  of  wheat  per  acre  from  a  seed- 
ing of  one-third  of  a  bushel  per  acre,  and  on  an  entire  field 
of  barley  he  has  averaged,  per  acre,  82  bushels,  weighing 
57  pounds  per  bushel,  from  a  seeding  of  one  peck  per 
acre." 

In  respect  to  regularity  of  drill,  Major  Hallett  says: 

"My  principle  object  is  to  insure  perfect  singleness  and 
regularity  of  plant  with  unformity  of  depth.  The  two  latter 
may  be  attained  by  the  drill,  as  may  the  former  also  by 
adopting  the  following  plan  :  The  seed-cups  ordinarily  used 
in  drilling  wheat  are  so  large  that  they  deliver  bunches 
of  grain,  consisting  of  six  or  seven,  which  fall  together 
within  a  very  small  area,  from  which  a  less  produce  will  be 
obtained  than  if  it  had  been  occupied  by  a  single  grain. 

The  additional  grains  are  thus  not  only  wasted,  but  are 
positively  injurious.  By  using  seed-cups,  however,  which 
are  only  sufficiently  large  to  contain  one  grain  at  a  time,  a 
stream  of  single  grains  is  delivered,  and  the  desired  object, 
viz.,  the  depositing  of  grains  singly,  at  once  attained.  The 
intervals  in  the  rows  will  not  be  exactly  uniform,  but  they 
will  be  sufficiently  so  for  all  practical  purposes.  The  width 
of  these  intervals  will,  of  course,  depend  upon  the  velocity 
with  which  the  seed-barrel  revolves,  which  can  be  regulated 
at  pleasure  by  proper  arrangement  of  the  cog-wheels  which 
drive  it.  By  drilling  thus  we  obtain  the  advantage  of 
the  "broadcast"  system,  also  equal  distribution,  as  we  can 
have  the  rows  close  together  and  the  grains  as  thin  in  the 
rows  as  we  please." 


IMPROVEMENT  OP  WHEAT  IN  HUNGARY. 

"Mr.  Mokry,  a  farmer  in  the  county  of  Bekes,  Hungary 
has  been  experimenting  for  eight  years  on  the  improve- 
ment of  wheat,  by  selection  of  seed,  &c.  His  efforts 
having  attracted  the  attention  of  his  government,  he  has 
lately  received  an  annual  grant  to  aid  him  in  carrying  out 
his  experiments  on  a  large  scale.  Until  quite  recently  he 
was  unacquainted  with  the  system  of  Major  Hallett,  the 
English  experimenter,  which  would  appear  to  have  been 
in  advance  of  his  own,  and  likely  to  afford  him  much  as- 
sistance toward  perfecting  his  practice.  The  following  is 
an  extract  from  a  report  made  by  Mr.  Mokry  to  his  gov- 
ernment: 

"In  1873,  I  had  a  field  of  40  acres  drilled  with  third- 
class  improved  wheat,  which  gave  me  18  metzen  (about  34 
bushels)  per  acre,  whereas  the  ordinary  seed  produced  only 
5  metzen.  T  found  that  a  crop  of  improved  wheat  was  not 
in  the  least  degree  affected  by  "rost,"  and  a  crop  of  com- 
mon wheat  was  totally  ruined  by  it.  I  have  observed  that 
every  year  it  has  maintained  its  increased  reproductiveness 
even  when  sown  thick  and  in  superficially  plowed  ground. 
Seeing,  therefore,  that  in  the  cases  stated  the  two  kinds  of 
seed  were  drilled  under  the  same  conditions  of  soil  and  cli- 
mate, and  that  one  did  not  receive  more  care  than  the  other, 
and  that,  nevertheless,  the  pedigree  wheat  yielded  ears  as 
long  and  as  full  again  as  those  of  the  common  wheat,  I  find 
it  demonstrated  that  the  yielding  powers  of  the  pedigree 
wheat  can  be  developed  to  an  almost  incredible  degree,  and 
and  that  it  will  assert  its  superority  even  with  ordinary 
treatment  and  under  untoward  circumstances.  In  the  un- 
favorable year,  1874,  my  first-class  improved  seed  gave  11 
metzen  per  acre,  weighing  84  pounds  per  metzen;  the  sec- 
ond-class, 7  metzen,  weighing  84  pounds;  the  third-class 
(broadcast,)  7  metzen,  weighing  83  pounds;  and  the  com- 
mon seed  only  5  metzen  per  acre,  weighing  83  pounds 
per  metzen." 


METHODS    OF    SEEDING    COMPARED. 

The  following  is  a  report  of  Ian  experiment  made  by  a 
member  of  the  Goodhue  Farmer's  Club,  Minnesota,  with 
three  fields  seeded  to  spring  wheat  of  the  China  Tea  variety. 
The  statement  exhibits,  among  other  points,  the  great  ad- 
vantage arising  from  a  proper  method  of  drilling,  in  giving 
equal  growth  to  the  wheat  plants  and  sufficient  room  for 
their  development. 

"Field  No.  l,two  bushels  of  seed  per  acre,  sown  with 
broadcast  sower  and  cultivator  combined,  the  seed  being 
planter1  at  depths  varying  from  one  to  four  inches.  Field 
No.  2,  five  pecks  per  acre,  sown  in  drills,  east  and  west, 
two  and  one-half  inches  deep.  Field  No.  3,  three  pecks 
per  acre,  sown  in  drills,  east  and  west,  two  and  one-half 
inches  deop,  eighteen  inches  apart;  cultivated  but  once,  when 
about  a  foot  high,  with  a  five  toothed  walking  cultivator,  at 
the  expense  of  one  dollar  per  acre/' 

Results. — "No.  1,  good  wheat,  head  medium  in  length, 
well  filled  and  standing  thick  on  the  ground;  unequal  in 
growth,  some  straws  being  five  and  six  feet  long,  others 
only  two  feet;  some  heads  very  green,  others  ripe;  estimated 
yield  twenty  to  twenty-five  bushels  per  acre.  No.  2  had  a 
better  color  during  growth  than  No.  1,  and  was  very  even 
in  straw  and  degree  of  ripeness;  heads  about  even,  of  extra 
length;  bundles  very  heavy;  estimated  yield,  thirty  bushels 
per  acre.  No.  3  was  extra  at  all  times,  its  unusual  deep- 
green  color  and  broad  leaves  attracting  much  attention;  no 
one  supposed  it  the  same  kind  of  grain  as  lots  1  and  .2;  it 
stooled  out  much  more  than  either,  and  was  uniform  in 
ripeness  and  length  of  straw;  estimated  yield,  thirty-five 
to  forty  bushels  per  acre. 

The  Club  concluded  that  they  had  been  in  the  habit 
of  using  too  much  seed  for  spring  wheat,  and  that  wheat 
needs  cultivation." 

I    will    here  give    my  own    experience   of    improving 


-10- 


seed.  Some  eight  years  ago  1  commenced  a  series  of  ex- 
periments similar  to  the  above  with  the  following  results, 
viz:  I  sowed  a  small  quantity  each  year  in  drills  18  inches 
apart,  and  single  kernels  scattered  by  hand  six  inches  to  a 
foot  apart  in  the  drills.  This  was  hoed  about  three  times 
each  year.  When  harvested  selections  were  made  from 
the  best  heads  only,  and  sowed  and  tended  in  the  same 
manner  again.  At  the  end  of  six  years  I  commenced  to 
increase  the  quantity,  sowing  at  the  rate  of  three  pecks  per 
acre,  which  produced  equally  as  much  wheat  per  acre  as 
my  other  wheat  sown  1J  and  1J  bushels  per  acre.  My 
other  wheat  had  been  moderately  improved  by  running 
the  seed  over  a  coarse  screen,  which  would  take  out  from  J- 
to  J  of  the  wheat.  I  have  not  yet  succeeded  to  the  extent 
of  others  who  have  preceded  me,  but  I  have  made  a  decided 
improvement,  and  think  that  a  few  years  more  of  similar 
work  would  approximate  the  results  of  Major  Hallett,  if  it 
did  not  equal  him. 

Perhaps  it  will  not  be  inappropriate  here  to  put  in  a 
selection  on  the  "Cultivation  of  Wheat." — [Nat'l  Agr'l 
Report,  1868,  p.  416. 

CULTIVATION    OF    WHEAT. 

"Public  attention  has  been  directed. -in  the  recent 
reports  of  this  department,  to  the  propriety  of  making 
experiments  in  the  cultivation  of  wheat  in  wide  drilling 
and  thin  seeding.  The  fact  that  millions  of  acres  of  wheat 
are  annually  overrun  with  weeds'  and  that  sod  lands,  im- 
perfectly pulverized,  often  yield  larger  crops  than  the  same 
soil  in  a  better  mechanical  condition,  but  thoroughly  seed- 
ed with  wild  plants  of  rampant  growth,  ought  to  suggest 
the  probable  success  of  a  system  of  cultivation  of  growing 
wheat  whereby  it  might  have  unchecked  opportunity  for 
growth,  tillering,  and  perfect  ripening,  with  such  robust- 
ness of  stalk  as  to  preclude  the  liability  of  falling,  and  con- 
sequent imperfection  and  loss  of  grain. 


-11 


Several  correspondents  of  the  Departmant  acted  upon 
these  suggestions,  and  reported  favorable  results.  One,  in 
Rock  County,  Wisconsin,  cultivated  ten  acres,  planted  in 
drills  fourteen  inches  apart,  with  two  pecks  of  seed  per 
acre,  with  success  so  marked  as  to  induce  him  to  put  in 
seventeen  acres  more. 

Mr.  R.  A.  Gilpin,  of  West  Chester,  Pa.,  in  I860,  planted 
one  acre  with  three  pecks  of  seed  in  drills  twenty  inches 
apart,  and  drilled  the  remainder  of  the  field  at  intervals  of 
ten  inches.  In  the  spring,  when  the  ground  had  become  suf- 
ficiently dry,  a  small  garden  hoe  was  run  between  the  rows, 
working  three  inches  deep.  "  The  wheat  took  a  rapid 
start,  and  outgrew  the  rest  of  the  field.  As  the  season  ad- 
vanced it  grew  tall  and  strong,  and  no  amount  of  wind  or 
rain  had  any  effect  to  lay  it  down.  When  the  heads 
formed,  their  greater  length  was  apparent.  It  was  back- 
ward in  ripening,  and  the  rest  of  the  field  was  cut  and 
hauled  in  before  this  was  ripe."  But  the  single  acre  yield- 
ed twenty-three  bushels,  while  the  remainder  of  the  field 
produced  only  nine  bushels  per  acre.  Thus  a  single  hoeing 
produced  fourteen  bushels  on  an  acre,  or  155  per  cent,  in- 
crease, worth  at  the  current  value  $30,  besides  saving  one- 
half  the  value  of  the  seed.  A  large  number  of  results 
like  these,  definite  and  particular,  in  varied  circumstances 
of  soil,  climate,  and  condition,  would  test  the  pecuniary 
advantage  of  horse-hoeing  wheat" 

lhave  increased  the  length  from  an  inch  to  an  inch 
and  a  half,  nearly  doubled  the  number  of  kernels  in  a  head, 
and  added  to  the  tillering  over  five  fold.  I  have  reduced 
the  seed  required  per  acre  from  one  and  one-half  bushels 
to  three  pecks  per  acre.  I  have  raised  Clawson  wheat 
that  has  weighed  64J  pounds  to  the  bushel,  while  the 
heaviest  red  wheat  raised  the  same  season,  raised  at  the 
Ohio  experimental  station,  weighed  but  64  pounds  per 
bushel.  These  are  positive  improvements.  The  flour 


-12- 


manufaciured  from  wheat  raised  this  season,  stone  ground, 
has  been  preferred  to  the  roller  ground  flour.  This  flour 
presents  good  evidence  of  having  been  improved  through 
the  general  improvement  of  the  wheat,  and  it  is  hoped  that 
the  plant  has,  in  some  degree,  been  rendered  proof  against 
the  ravages  of  the  Hessian  Fly.  There  are  five  positive 
improvements,  and  two  possible  ones. 

I  know  of  nothing  more  appropriate  toward  this  im- 
provement upon  the  farmers,  than  the  address  delivered 
by  Mr.  Dudley  W.  Adams,  to  the  Granges  of  Muscatine 
and  Union  Counties,  Iowa,  in  October,  1872: 

"  When  physicians  meet  in  convention,  as  they  often 
do,  it  is  customary  for  members  of  the  medical  profes- 
sion to  read  papers  for  the  entertainment  and  instruction 
of  the  assembled  M.  D.'s. 

"  When  railroad  men  have  a  convention,  such  persons 
as  have  had  active  experience  in  railroad  business  do  the 
talking  and  have  charge  of  the  meeting. 

"Editorial  conventions  are  attended  by  editors,  and 
they,  as  firmly  as  any  other  class  of  people,  are  of  the 
opinion  that  they  are  capable  of  managing  their  own  busi- 
ness, and  they  are  not  in  the  habit  of  imploring  the  mem- 
bers of  other  callings  to  furnish  the  brains  to  amuse  or  in- 
struct them. 

"Shoemakers  have  organized  themselves  into  the  order 
of  St.  Crispins,  and  consider  themselves  able  to  paddle 
their  own  canoe. 

"  Lawyers  not  only  feel  competent  to  address  and  prop- 
erly edify  conventions  of  their  own  profession,  but  their 
modesty  does  not  forbid  them  from  rendering  valuable  as- 
sistance to  less  favored  classes  by  a  free  use  of  their  surplus 
talent. 

"  But  when  the  tillers  of  the  soil  have  met  in  an  ag- 
ricultural society  of  any  kind,  it  has  been  usually  custom- 
ary to  select  a  lawyer,  doctor,  editor  or  politician  to  tell  us 


-13- 


what  he  knows  about  farming.  The  idea  has  very  rarely 
occurred  to  the  managers  of  such  institutions  that  it  might 
be  possible  for  a  farmer  to  have  anything  to  say  on  such 
occasions  which  should  be  either  appropriate,  interesting,  or 
instructive.  When  these  professional  oracles  of  our  pro- 
fessional managers'  selection  open  their  mouths,  we  are  ed- 
ified with  a  rehash  of  such  ideas  as  may  be  prevalent  in 
the  community,  served  up  in  a  great  variety  of  forms,  an.d 
presented  in  a  great  many  different  and  beautiful  lights, 
depending  for  its  coloring  upon  the  business  of  the  orator, 
as  this  is  the  stand-point  from  which  we  are  viewed,  and, 
of  course,  this  view  determines  the  nature  of  the,  picture. 
Lawyers  and  doctors  in  beautiful  colors  paint  the  noble- 
ness and  independence  of  the  farmer's  life.  They  tell  us 
we  are  the  most  intelligent,  moral,  healthy  and  industrious 
class  in  all  the  land,  and  all  our  present  is  calm  and  our 
future  happy.  Merchants  tell  us  that  no  business  is  so 
sure  and  free  from  care  as  farming,  and  that  in  no  other 
calling  do  so  few  men  end  in  bankruptcy.  Politicians 
laud  in  stentorian  tones  the  'honest  yeomanry,'  'the  sinews 
of  the  land,'  the 'bulwarks  of  our  nation's  liberties,'  'the 
coarse  blouse  of  homespun  which  covers  the  true  and  hon- 
ost  heart,'  and  deluges  more  of  equally  fulsome  and  nause- 
ating stud'. 

"Soft-handed  agricultural  editors  give  long  disserta- 
tions on  the  necessity  of  saving  all  the  spare  moments 
and  converting  them  into  some  useful  purpose.  They  tell 
us  how  rainy  days  may  be  laboriously  used  in  mending 
old  rake-handles,  and  winter  evenings  utilized  by  pound- 
ing oak  logs  into  basket  stuff,  while  our  wives  and  daugh- 
ters can  nobly  assist  in  averting  bankruptcy  by  weaving 
the  baskets  or  ingeniously  making  one  new  lamp-wick  out 
of  the  remains  of  three  old  ones. 

"It  has  never  occurred  to  these  very  wise  instructors 
that  farmers  and  farmers'  families  are  human  beings,  with 
human  feelings,  human  hopes  and  ambitions,  and  human 


-14- 


desires.  It  will  doubtless  be  a  matter  of  surprise  for  them 
to  learn  that  farmers  may  possibly  entertain  some  wish  to 
enjoy  life,  and  have  some  other  object  in  life  besifjes  ever- 
lasting hard  work  and  accumulating  a  few  paltry  dollars 
by  coining  them  from  their  own  life-blood,  and  stamping 
them  with  the  sighs  of  weary  children  and  worn  wives. 

"What  we  want  in  agriculture  is  a  new  Declaration  of 
Independence:  We  must  do  something  to  dispel  old  pre- 
judices, and  break  down  these  old  notions.  That  the  far- 
mer is  a  mere  animal,  to  labor  from  morn  till  eve,  and  into 
the  night,  is  an  ancient  but  abominable  heresy.  We  have 
heard  enough,  t(en  times  enough,  about  the 'hardened  hand 
of  honest  toil.'  The  supreme  'glory  of  the  sweating  brow,' 
and  how  magnificent  the  suit  of  coarse  homespun  which 
covers  a  form  bent  with  overwork,  and  which  has  incorpo- 
rated in  its  every  thread  moments  of  painful  labor  which 
the  over-worked  wife  had  stolen  from  her  needed  rest. 

"I  tell  you,  my  brother  tillers  of  the  soil,  there  is  some- 
thing in  this  world  worth  living  for  besides  hard  work. 
We  have  heard  enough  of  this  professional  blarney.  Toil 
is  not  in  itself  necessarily  glorious.  To  toil  like  a  slave, 
raise  fat  steers,  cultivate  broad  acres,  pile  up  treasures  of 
bonds  and  lands  and  herds,  and  at  the  same  time  bow  and 
starve  the  god-like  form,  harden  the  hands,  dwarf  the  im- 
mortal mind,  and  alienate  the  children  from  the  home- 
stead, is  a  damning  disgrace  to  any  man,  and  should  stamp 
him  as  worse  than  a  brute. 

"It  is  not  honorable  to  sacrifice  the  mind  and  body  to 
gain.  It  is  not  a  trait  of  true  nobility  to  bring  up  children 
to  thankless,  unrequited  labor.  It  is  not  just  or  good  or 
noble  to  wear  out  the  wife  of  your  bosom  in  the  drudgery 
of  the  farm  without  a  just  return.  You  have  no  right  to 
make  agriculture  so  disagreeable  as  to  drive  all  young  men 
of  spirit  and  enterprise  into  other  branches  of  business. 

"I  will  be  met  right  here  with  the  thousand  time  re- 
peated rejoinder,  'Oh,  we  farmers  have  to  work  hard.  We 


15- 


can  t  get  along  as  mechanics  in  town  do  with  ten  hours 
work.  We  can't  afford  to  hire  help.  We  can't  afford  to 
have  holidays.  We  can't  get  time  to  make  a  vegetable, 
flower,  and  fruit  garden,  and  supply  our  wants  with  veget- 
ables, flowers  and  fruits,  We  can't  get  time  to  make  a 
lawn  and  plant  trees  around  the  house.'  You  can't?  You 
can't?  Then  what  are  you  farming  for?  As  men,  as  citi- 
zens, as  fathers,  as  husbands,  you  have  no  right  to  engage 
in  a  business  which  will  condemn  yourself  and  your  depen- 
dents to  a  life  of  unrewarded  toil.  If  the  calling  of  agri- , 
culture  will  not  enable  you  and  yours  to  escape  physical 
degredation,  and  mental  and  social  starvation;  if  it  does 
not  enable  you  to  enjoy  the  amenities,  pleasures,  com- 
forts and  necessities  of  life  as  well  as  other  branches  of  bus- 
iness, it  is  your  duty  to  abandon  it  at  once,  and  not  drag 
down  in  misery  your  dependent  family.  But  I  do  not  be- 
lieve we  need  be  driven  to  this  alternative.  I  do  believe 
that  agrculture,  followed  as  a  business,  with  a  reasonable 
regard  to  business  principles,  can  be  made  a  business  suc- 
cess. I  believe  that  by  keeping  steadily  in  view  the  prima- 
ry end  of  life — our  happiness,  our  comfort,  our  bodily 
health,  our  mental  improvement  and  growth — they  can  be 
as  well  attained  or  better  than  in  any  other  calling.  Right 
here  is  the  great  difficulty;  right  here  with  ourselves  is  the 
remedy:  We  work  too  much  and  think  too  little.  We 
make  qur  hands  too  hard,  while  our  brains  are  too  soft. 
The  day  is  long  past  when  muscle  ruled  the  world.  Brain 
is  the  great  motive  power  of  this  age,  and  muscle  but  a  fee- 
ble instrument.  The  locomotive,  tearing  along,  jarring 
the  earth  below,  outstripping  the  wind  above,  and  bearing 
in  its  train  the  beauty,  honor  and  treasure  of  a  State,  rep- 
resents brains.  The  dusty,  sweaty  footman,  wearily  plod- 
ding along,  carrying  a  pack  on  his  back,  symbolizes  mus- 
cle. The  self-raking  reaper,  driven  with  gloved  and  un- 
soiled  hands,  sweeping  down  like  a  fable,  the  golden  grain, 
represents  brains.  The  bowed  husbandman,  painfully 


-16- 


gathering  handfuls  of  straw  and  cutting  them  with  a  sickle, 
represents  muscle.  The  steamboat,  plowing  its  vva}7  with 
ease  against  the  strongest  current  of  our  swift  and  noble 
rivers,  is  brains.  The  dug-out  slowly  creeping  along  the 
willow-margined  shore,  propelled  by  *the  Indian's  paddle, 
is  muscle.  The  sewing-machine,  which  stitches  faster  than 
the  eye  can  follow,  and  never  eats  and  tires,  is  brains.  The 
weary,  pale,  and  worn  wife,  painfully  toiling  over  the  mid- 
night task,  is  muscle.  How  futile  the  attempt,  then,  for 
muscle  to  compete  against  mind  in  the  great  battle  of  life  ! 
A  wise  man  once  wrote,  'The  wisdom  of  a  learned  man 
cometh  with  opportunity  of  leisure;'  and  in  that  sentence 
is  food  for  reflection  and  thought,  sufficient  for  an  entire 
sermon.  Unless  farmers  devote  more  time  to  the  use  of 
the  brain  and  the  improvement  of  the  mind,  and  less  to 
wearying  and  exhausting  muscular  labor,  how  can  they 
hope  to  successfully  compete  against  the  vigorous  minds  of 
the  present  age?  It  is  not  the  skillful  hand,  the  strong 
arm,  or  the  watchful  eye  alone  that  will  in  these  days  bring 
success  to  the  farmer.  These  are  needful,  but  a  cultivated, 
intelligent,  active  brain  to  direct  them  is  of  ten  times  more 
importance. 

"Again,  I  say,  we  work  too  much  and  think  too  little. 
A  farmer  rises  at  four  o'clock,  goes  out  and  does  the  chores 
among  the  stock,  chops  wood  for  the  day,  mends  the  har- 
ness, and  is  very  industrious.  By  breakfast  time*  he  has 
got  all  ready  for  the  day's  work.  All  hands  then  pitch  in- 
to severe  labor  till  noon.  Dinner  is  called  and  dispatched 
in  haste,  and  labor  renewed  till  supper.  This  unavoidable 
but  necessary  hindrance  to  labor  is  hurriedly  performed, 
work  resumed  until  darkness  compels  a  cessation  of  labor 
in  the  field,  and  then  the  laborers  return  to  the  house.  A 
lantern  is  procured,  by  the  aid  of  which  the  milking  and 
other  chores  are  'done  up,'  and  by  nine  or  ten  o'clock  at 
night  the  day's  work  is  closed,  and  the  family,  tired  and 
stupid,  retire  to  bed,  only  on  the  following  day  to  repeat 
the  same  routine  of  slavery.  And  yet  such  men  are  called 


-1 


good,  thrifty,  industrious  farmers.     It  is  a  lie!  a  base  slan- 
der to  call  such  stupid   slavery  of  body,  such  starvation  of 

mind,  good  or  thrifty,  or  in  any  wise  commendable. 

"Go  into  the  country,  and  you  will  find  numberless 
cases  of  men  with  poor  health,  crushed  energies,  ruined 
constitutions,  and  stunted  souls,  and  women  the  slaves  of 
habits  of  excessive  labor,  more  fatal  than  the  pernicious 
and  much-condemned  customs  of  fashionable  society.  You 
will  find  children  prematurely  old,  with  the  bright  light 
of  happy  childhood  extinguished,  and  everywhere  a  lack 
of  that  life  and  cheerfulness  which  gives  to  life  its  greatest 
charms.  Most  of  these  evils  can  be  traced  directly  to  over- 
work. Is  such  work  necessary  or  even  profitable  for  a  far- 
mer? Most  certainly  not.  Such  work  is  a  losing  business, 
and  farmers  who  adopt  that  course  of  labor  will  find  at  the 
end  of  the  season  that  themselves,  their  wives,  and  children 
are  worn  and  discouraged,  and  have  not  accomplished  as 
much  as  had  been  attempted  or  expected.  Why?  Because 
they  have  worked  like  oxen  and  not  like  men,  and  have 
depended  on  muscle  alone  instead  of  making  it  an  auxili- 
ary of  the  mind,  and  they  treat  themselves  to  the  luxur}' 
of  a  good,  long,  hearty  growl  at  members  of  all  other  in- 
dustries for  combining  to  oppress  the  poor  farmer.  They 
growl  at  the  shoemaker;  they  growl  at  the  merchant;  they 
growl  at  the  railroad;  they  growl  at  the  commission  men; 
they  growl  at  everybody  and  everything  that  lives  by  using 
its  wits  in  sponging,  cheating,  and  oppressing  the  hard- 
working farmer.  This  horde  of  cormorants  are  growled  at, 
whined  at,  and  snarled  at,  because  they  filch  from  the  far- 
mer his  hard-earned  dollars  and  live  in  luxury  and  ease 
thereon.  Speakers  at  agricultural  and  political  meetings, 
and  writers  in  agricultural  papers  repeat  these  complaints, 
and  ring  the  same  charges  over  and  over  again,  in  season 
and  out  of  season,  until  themselves  and  most  farmers  real- 
ly believe  that  the  tillers  of  the  soil  are  the  most  industri- 
ous, moral,  intelligent,  hardworking,  abused,  persecuted 


-18- 


lambs  in  the  world,  and  everybody  else  are  wolves,  seeking 
whom  they  may  devour. 

"Now,  as  one  who  was  born  on  a  farm,  reared  on  a 
farm,  has  spent  the  flower  of  his  days  on  a  farm,  and  still 
earns  his  bread  by  tilling  the  soil,  I  know  my  brother  far- 
ers  will  forgive  me  if  I  do  not  follow  in  and  repeat  this 
strain,  but  tell  plainly  the  naked,  disagreeable  truth.  Ma- 
ny of  these  complaints  are  true,  and  we  ought  to  be  asham- 
ed of  ourselves  that  such  is  the  disgraceful  fact.  Here  is  a 
class  of  people  exceeding  any  other  in  numbers  and  wealth, 
and  claiming  superior  industry,  intelligence  and  morality, 
complaining  of  being  oppressed.  We  ought  to  be  ashamed 
of  ourselves,  and  either  cease  our  boasting  or  our  whining. 

"Let  us  take  a  candid  look  at  the  situation,  and  see  if 
we  cannot  discover  what  is  tlio  matter.  Let  us  try  and  see 
if  there  is  any  good  reason  why  the  great  majority  should 
be  governed  and  oppressed  by  a  small  minority. 

"In  human  affairs  effects  follow  causes;  results  are  ac- 
complished by  action,  even  when  the  actors  are  unseen. 
Look  at  our  State  and  National  Governments,  and  who  are 
the  men  to  whom  we  entrust  this  great  responsibility? 
Look  at  our  boards  of  trade,  industrial  expositions,  and  in 
fact  any  great  project  for  the  advancement  of  science,  art, 
liberty  or  industry,  and  you  will  find  at  its  head  and  the 
moving  spirit  thereof,  a  lawyer,  doctor,  preacher,  student, 
merchant,  or,  in  fact,  almost  anything  but  a  farmer.  These 
men  rule  the  nation.  They  shape  the  laws;  they  make  the 
channels  of  trade,  and  place  trade  in  the  channels.  They 
build  ships,  harness  steam  to  their  wagons,  make  lightning 
carry  their  messages;  they  compel  rivers  to  turn  their  saws, 
twirl  their  spindles,  and  throw  their  shuttles.  They  use 
their  brains,  and  mind  governs  the  world. 

"Just  think  of  competing  against  such  men  by  stupid- 
ly hoeing  corn  fifteen  hours  a  day  and  selling  it  at  twenty 
cents  a  bushel,  and  then  laying  awake  nights,  growling  at 
railroad  men  and  merchants.  The  dog  who  barks  at  the 


-19- 


moou  comes  nearer  accomplishing  bis  purpose  than  such  a 
growler.  Why  have  not  farmers  taken  a  position  of  influ- 
ence and  power  in  the  councils  of  the  nation  and  other- 
wise, in  proportion  to  their  numbers  and  wraith?  Simply 
because  we  have  not  used  our  brains. 

"The  world  pays  homage  to  intelligence,  to  intellect, 
and  puts  it  in  places  of  honor,  of  trust,  of  responsibility. 
The  world  is  not  partial  to  lawyers,  ministers  and  doctors, 
but  the  world  wants  to  use  brains,  and  accepts  them  wher- 
ever found,  and  uses  them  to  promote  its  wishes;  and  if  we 
farmers  want  to  be  placed  in  the  foremost  rank  in  the  nat- 
ion and  in  the  world;  if  we  wish  to  be  put  in  positions  where 
we  can  have  power  to  aid  our  fellows;  if  we  wish  to  have 
influence  and  make  our  mark  on  the  institutions  of  the  land; 
if  we  wish  to  stand  where  we  can  do  something  toward 
governing  the  price  of  our  commodities;  if  we  wish  to  weigh 
according  to  our  size  in  the  scale  of  public  opinion;  if  we 
want  to  have  farmers  in  demand  for  places  of  trust  and 
honor  and  profit,  and  for  husbands  for  beautiful,  refined 
and  intelligent  women;  if  we  want  to  escape  from  our  pres- 
ent vassalage,  we  must  furnish  some  brains,  sound  in 
quality,  liberal  in  quantity,  polished  with  constant  use,  re- 
fined by  study  and  thought.  Show  me  such  a  farmer  as 
that,  and  I  will  show  you  a  man  whom  his  fellow-men  will 
want  to  use  in  places  of  trust, 

"1  speak  it  in  sorrow;  1  admit  it  with  deep  and  burn- 
ing shame,  that  the  farmers  can  furnish  but  comparatively 
few  men  whose  minds  are  fitted  to  organize  great  enterpris- 
es. Look  at  the  farmers  in  our  Legislature.  In  numbers 
they  are  very  small  in  proportion  to  the  population  of  the 
State,  and  smaller  yet  in  the  influence  they  have  upon  the 
legislation.  When  they  come  in  contact  with  men  who  are 
in  the  habit  of  close  and  logical  reasoning,  they,  with  few 
exceptions,  prove  wanting.  It  may,  and  probably  will  be 
said  that  head-work  will  not  hoe  corn  or  feed  the  pigs. 
Granted.  But  prove  to  me  that  an  intelligent  man  is  dis- 


-20- 


qualified  from  performing  the.  duties  of  a  farmer  and  you 
will  prove  to  me  that  farming  is  a  business  which  it  is  dis- 
graceful to  follow,  and  that  it  is  grossly  unjust  to  say  aught 
to  induce  any  young  man  of  common  sense  to  become  a 
farmer. 

"It  is  seen  that  thought,  intelligence,  mind,  brains, 
used  in  other  branches  of  business,  lead  to  success.  It  is 
found  that  men  with  clear  heads,  sharp  wits,  sound  judg- 
ment, and  business  habits  go  straight  along  and  compel 
success  even  under  adverse  circumstances.  Now,  is  it  any 
advantage  to  have  and  use  brains?  Can  a  man  with  brains 
get,  in  tilling  the  soil,  a  fair  compensation  for  their  use? 
Can  brain  work  be  employed  on  the  farm  and  return  to 
the  owner  as  much  of  comfort,  wealth,  happiness,  honor, 
and  general  prosperity  as  in  other  branches  of  business  at 
the  present  time?  This  is  a  knotty  question,  but  it  is  one 
we  have  got  to  meet,  and  meet  it  now.  There  is  no  use  in 
attempting  to  evade  or  ignore  this  great  alternative.  If 
there  is  anything  in  agriculture  that  necessarily  dwarfs 
the  mind  and  makes  it  secondary  to  mere  physical  exer- 
tion, then  it  is  a  disgrace  to  be  a  farmer,  and  common  hon- 
esty requires  that  we  cease  talking  about  the  honorable- 
ness  of  the  noble  yeomanry.  But,  on  the  contrary,  if  ag- 
riculture will  give  scope  to  thought  and  research;  if  it  will 
cause  a  man  to  think  while  he  works,  and  study  while  he 
has  leisure;  if  his  business  is  such  that  talent  and  tact  will 
transform  his  soil  to  gold  and  his  house  into  a  beautiful 
and  happy  home;  if  the  same  amount  of  bodily  and  men- 
tal labor  on  the  farm  will  produce  as  much  pleasure,  wealth 
and  happiness  as  in  the  shops,  counting-room,  and  mines, 
then  we  may  conscientiously  recommend  agriculture  as  one 
of  the  desirable  employments.  Can  this  be  done? 

"Brother  Patrons  of  Husbandry,  our  Order  has  been 
formed  to  assist  in  answering  this  great  question  in  the  af- 
firmative. How  shall  we  proceed? 

"I  do  not   underrate  the  importance  of  making  an  ef- 


-21 


fort  to  buy  our  reapers  a  few  dollars  cheaper  and  sell  our 
wheat  a  few  cents  higher,  and  get  our  freights  a  little  low- 
er. What  is  gained  in  this  way  is  certainly  added  to  the 
profits  of  the  farm,  but  I  very  much  fear  that  many  mem- 
bers of  the  Order  place  too  high  a  value  upon  this  matter 
of  purchase  and  sale.  This  is  not  what  ails  us.  It  does 
not  reach  the  root  of  the  difficulty  at  all.  It  only^prunes 
away  a  few  slender  twigs  which  grow  again  in  a  single 
night.  We  can  never  accomplish  what  we  want,  and  make 
agriculture  respectable,  remunerative,  and  desirable;  far 
mers  intelligent,  contented  and  honored;  farmers'  wives 
envied  and  respected,  and  farmers'  sons  and  daughters  ea- 
gerly sought  by  the  wise,  good,  learned  and  beautiful  of 
the  land  for  husbands  and  wives;  we  cannot  make  beauti- 
ful homes,  fertile  farms,  and  improving  flocks  by  saving 
five  dollars  on  a  plow,  and  five  cents  a  bushel  on  wheat. 
No!  Never!  When  we  build  like  that  we  must  dig  deep- 
er, lay  the  foundations  broader,  and  use  brains  as  the  chief 
stone  of  the  corner.  An  ox  excels  us  in  strength,  a  horse 
in  speed.  The  eagle  has  keener  sight,  the  hare  a  quicker 
ear,  the  deer  a  finer  sense  of  smell;  but  man  excels  them 
all  in  mind  and  rules  above  them  all.  So  among  men,  it 
is  not  the  strong,  the  swift,  the  keen-sighted,  the  quick-ear- 
ed or  fine  scented  who  rules  the  world,  but  the  clear-head- 
ed. Human  beings  are  like  pebbles  on  the  sea  shore,  by 
rubbing  against  each  other  they  become  rounded,  smooth, 
polished,  symmetrical;  alone,  they  are  rough,  uncouth,  re- 
pulsive. 

"Farmers  arc  too  much  alone.  We  need  to  meet  to- 
gether to  rub  off  the  rough  corners  and  polish  down  into 
symmetry.  We  want  to  exchange  views,  and  above  all, 
we  want  to  learn  to  think.  A  man  who  has  performed 
fourteen  hours  of  severe  physical  labor  is  in  no  condition 
to  think,  and  we  may  as  well  decide  at  once  that  any  class 
of  men  which  starts  out  in  life  by  working  at  severe  labor 
fourteen  hours  of  the  twenty-four,  and  faithfully  adheres 
to  the  practice,  will  fill  forever  the  position  of  hewers  of 


-22- 


wood  and  drawers  of  water  for  men  who  use  the  God-given 
mind,  arid  nourish  the  soul  with  liberal  and  abundant 
mental  food. 

.  "I  have  already  tired  your  patience,  and  in  closing 
will  only  say,  that  in  my  opinion  the  coming  farmer  will 
not  toil  with  his  hands  fourteen  hours  out  of  the  twenty- 
four,  aud  compel  wife  and  children  to  the  same  slavery. 
But  he  will  give  a  liberal  share  of  his  time  to  thought, 
study  and  recreation.  He  will  know  of  what  his  soil  is 
composed,  in  what  it  abounds,  in  what  it  is  deficient.  He 
will  know  what  elements  of  earth  and  air  are  needed  to 
plant  growth,  and  under  what  conditions  they  can  be  most 
readily  assimilated.  He  will  understand  the  laws  of  plant 
and  animal  life,  that  he  may  more  successfully  treat  them. 
His  house  will  be  abundantly  supplied  with  books  and  pa- 
pers on  agricultural  and  matters  of  general  interest.  Pic- 
tures and  abundant  amusements  will  make  his  home 
attractive.  A  beautiful  lawn  and  flower  beds,  a  fruit  and 
vegetable  garden,  an  orchard,  groves,  and  evergreens  and 
deciduous  trees  for  ornament,  shelter,  and  use,  will  make 
his  home  so  lovely  and  homelike  that  his  daughters  will 
not  be  so  disgusted  with  farm  life  as  to  marry  a  village 
dolt,  or  the  son  so  worn,  weary  and  dispirited  as  to  leave 
the  farm  at  the  first  opportunity  and  open  a  barber  shop  in 
some  country  village.  Can  this  be  done,  and  can  the  farms 
really  be  made  the  happy  homes  of  refined,  intelligent,  hon- 
ored men  and  women,  instead  of  the  abodes  of  overworked 
slaves?  Yes!  emphatically  yes!  But  not  by  neglect- 
ing to  rust  the  God-giving  mind,  but  by  rousing  it  up  and 
making  it  the  compass,  the  sail  and  the  rudder  in  the  voyage 
of  life.  The  body  is  but  the  hulk.  Then  set  your  sails, 
stand  by  the  rudder,  steer  by  the  compass,  and  start  out 
boldly  on  the  great  journey,  whose  passage  is  pleasure  and 
whose  end  is  success.'"' 

To  this  excellent  address  I  would   add,  that  no  part  of 
farming  requires  a  greater  exercise  of  brains  than  theselec- 


-23- 


tion  and  improvement  of  seed,  and  the  renervation  of  our 
soil.  And  if  the  farmer  would  use  his  brains  upon  these 
subjects,  and  raise  twice  as  much  wheat  from  half  the 
amount  of  seed,  we  should  hear  less  growling  about  hard 
times. 

A  very  small  exercise  of  brains  will  teach  any  man 
that  a  large,  plump  kernel  of  wheat  will  produce  more  nu- 
triment for  the  support  of  the  germ,  until  it  can  get  it  from 
the  earth,  than  it  would  from  that  of  a  small  kernel. 

The  same  exercise  of  brain  ought  to  teach  us  all  that 
thin  sowing  will  produce  more  tillers  and  healthier  growth 
than  thick  sowing  and  crowded  plants. 

This  work  is  designed  as  a  leader,  to  teach  farmers 
how  to  think.  We  have  many  talkers  and  few  thinkers. 
"Error  will  travel  a  great  ways  while  truth  is  putting  on 
his  boots."  It  is  for  the  farmer  to  trace  nature  to  her  hi- 
ding places,  and  wring  from  her  the  secrets  on  which  she 
conducts  her  stupendous  empire."  How  few  there  are  who 
do  it.  If  these  rules  could  have  been  observed  in  the  last 
ten  years  in  our  institutes,  the  farmers  might  have  been 
much  farther  advanced,  the  executive  committee  might 
have  been  saved  raising  the  question  of  the  lessons  which 
they  have  learned,  which  questions  they  'have  found  them- 
selves wholly  unable  to  answer,  the  President  might  have 
been  saved  the  humility  of  threatening  to  arrest  me  be- 
cause I  expose  their  ignorance,  and  their  brainless  Secreta- 
ry might  have  had  something  better  to  report  than  the 
senseless  jargon  of  words  which  he  called  ''very  interest- 
ing." 

The  history  of  the  farmer's  attempt  to  improve  his 
wheat,  has  been  to  buy  a  new  variety  of  wheat  that  had 
been  improved  by  careful  cultivation,  which  would  pro- 
duce well  for  a  few  years,  and  then  under  the  careless 
cultivation  of  the  ordinary  fanner  would  run  out,  to  be 
succeeded  by  another  new  variety,  which  would  share  the 


-24- 


same  fate  from  the  same  cause.  Thus  it  has  been,  seeking 
new  varieties  at  a  high  price,  only  to  degenerate  or  run 
them  out.  In  this  the  farmer  has  been  the  dupe  and  the 
victim,  because  he  would  not  pursue  a  common  sense  sys- 
tem of  farming. 


NOTE. 


This  pamphlet  is  put  before  the  public  to  see  if  the  far- 
mers will  properly  sustain  an  advanced  system  of  fanning, 
and  if  they  will,  it  will  be  immediately  followed  by  a  simi- 
lar one  on  Green  Manuring,  to  improve  the  land  as  well  as 
the  seed. 

The  work  on  Green  Manuring  is  ready  for  the  press, 
and  its  publication,  and  consequently  its  usefulness  to  the 
farmer,  will  depend  upon  the  farmers'  action  in  sustaining 
this. 

Farmers  have  got  to  adopt  better  systems  of  farming 
and  raise  better  crops,  or  go  to  the  wall.  Take  which  horn 
of  the  dilemma  you  please. 

THE  AUTHOR. 


272673 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


